Design and Manufacturing of a Low Relative Humidity Chamber for Laser Processing of Lithium Metal
摘要
To overcome the energy density limitations of lithium-ion batteries that use graphite anodes, lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have attracted growing attention as promising next-generation energy storage systems. However, research on the manufacturing processes of LMBs remains limited. This study investigates the interaction characteristics between a nanosecond laser and metallic lithium to enable the application of laser technology in lithium metal processing. To prevent oxidation during laser processing, a low-humidity chamber was developed for metallic lithium. The laser ablation threshold was evaluated with varying pulse durations (4–20 ns) and shot numbers (200–450), and the incubation coefficient was calculated to analyze the effect of cumulative laser shots. The ablation threshold decreased with more laser shots or shorter pulse durations, with incubation coefficients ranging from 0.3243 to 0.3559. The single-shot ablation threshold increased from 15.68 to 19.23 J cm⁻2 as the pulse duration increased. These findings are expected to contribute to diversifying the processing methods for metallic lithium.